As promised, I'm giving you loyal dear readers the jump on the next Kritzerland release. Because I already know what my big online dealer is taking of this title, it's going to sellout very quickly. You know the routine - if you'd like to pre preorder, send 19.98 plus 3.75 shipping (I'm really trying not to raise the shipping price, but we'll see what happens when the rates go up on Monday - hopefully we won't have to - but even if we do, you'll get the old rate) via paypal.com to kritzerland at adelphia dot net. Also, mum's the word - we're not officially announcing until next Monday or Tuesday.
THE WHOLE WORLD LOVES TOM JONES! ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER FOR BEST SCORE OF 1963!
Kritzerland is proud to present its newest limited edition CD – the original motion picture soundtrack from Tom Jones, with music by John Addison.
Tom Jones hit movie screens in 1963, the era of the kitchen sink/angry young man dramas from England. Gritty, realistic, naturalistic films like Room At The Top and Look Back In Anger – those were all the rage. So, how did a low-budget period film adapted from a classic Henry Fielding novel find an audience and become one of the most critically lauded and popular comedies, not only of 1963, but of all time? How did this little upstart film capture the hearts and tickle the funny bones of the world, receiving ten Academy Award nominations, and taking home the prize in four rather impressive categories – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and Best Music, Score – Substantially Original (yes, that was the real category name), against such competition as Hud, Cleopatra, How The West Was Won, Lilies Of The Field, Fellini’s 8 ˝, Love With The Proper Stranger, This Sporting Life, The L-Shaped Room, The Birds, The Great Escape, and some other pretty terrific films? Would anyone in his or her right mind have predicted this freewheeling ribald romp would become the film sensation it became?
A good deal of credit must go to composer John Addison, who came up with a score that was as fresh, vibrant, ravishing, rowdy, and raucous as the film. Whether it’s the harpsichord accompaniment to the silent-movie opening, or the gorgeous love theme for Tom and Sophie, or any of the other wonderfully melodic themes he created, it’s no surprise he not only won the Academy Award, but also that the Tom Jones soundtrack was a huge best-selling album on United Artists Records.
The original LP was released in both stereo and mono – or was it? For years, it’s been presumed that the stereo tapes were lost, because only the mono album master was in the vaults of MGM. However, as anyone who owned the stereo pressing knew, it wasn’t stereo at all – both LP releases, despite what the album cover said, were mono – no stereo tapes ever existed – the score was recorded and released in mono only. The original LP sequence had nothing to do with the way the music was presented in the film – the tracks were wildly out of film sequence order, cues were edited together, and for the most part the track titles had no correlation to what the music was actually accompanying in the film. For this release, we have put the tracks in film order, and we’ve unearthed the film’s original “End Titles” music, herein released for the first time. The track titles have been changed to reflect how the music is actually used in the film. As a bonus, we also include the entire original LP sequence.
This release is limited to 1000 copies only. The price is $19.98 plus shipping.
CDs will ship the third week of June – however, preorders placed directly through Kritzerland usually ship one to five weeks earlier.
